Brian Stewart

And so it brings in a lot of people who are worried about inflation and looking to find deals. Those are your Costco customers. But with the increases come valuation concerns. So there's worries of whether Costco can keep up the momentum that it's had. And then elsewhere, you have a lot of department stores like Macy's and Nordstrom's and then other clothing retailers like like Gap are reporting.

And so it brings in a lot of people who are worried about inflation and looking to find deals. Those are your Costco customers. But with the increases come valuation concerns. So there's worries of whether Costco can keep up the momentum that it's had. And then elsewhere, you have a lot of department stores like Macy's and Nordstrom's and then other clothing retailers like like Gap are reporting.

And so it brings in a lot of people who are worried about inflation and looking to find deals. Those are your Costco customers. But with the increases come valuation concerns. So there's worries of whether Costco can keep up the momentum that it's had. And then elsewhere, you have a lot of department stores like Macy's and Nordstrom's and then other clothing retailers like like Gap are reporting.

So like I said, to get an idea of the spending habits of the general consumer, I think taking those reports sort of in aggregate would be a good data source.

So like I said, to get an idea of the spending habits of the general consumer, I think taking those reports sort of in aggregate would be a good data source.

So like I said, to get an idea of the spending habits of the general consumer, I think taking those reports sort of in aggregate would be a good data source.

Well, the biggest preliminary to the waiver reports that's coming that we had was the Walmart earnings, which sent the stock down a little bit. There was just sort of worries that it couldn't keep up the momentum it had. Walmart's in sort of a special case because it has the benefit of size plus... the low price kind of business plan kind of works well in an inflationary environment.

Well, the biggest preliminary to the waiver reports that's coming that we had was the Walmart earnings, which sent the stock down a little bit. There was just sort of worries that it couldn't keep up the momentum it had. Walmart's in sort of a special case because it has the benefit of size plus... the low price kind of business plan kind of works well in an inflationary environment.

Well, the biggest preliminary to the waiver reports that's coming that we had was the Walmart earnings, which sent the stock down a little bit. There was just sort of worries that it couldn't keep up the momentum it had. Walmart's in sort of a special case because it has the benefit of size plus... the low price kind of business plan kind of works well in an inflationary environment.

So companies that have sort of a higher price level like Nordstrom's, it'll be interesting to see whether or not they can kind of still draw people in or whether people are sort of looking around for cheaper deals.

So companies that have sort of a higher price level like Nordstrom's, it'll be interesting to see whether or not they can kind of still draw people in or whether people are sort of looking around for cheaper deals.

So companies that have sort of a higher price level like Nordstrom's, it'll be interesting to see whether or not they can kind of still draw people in or whether people are sort of looking around for cheaper deals.

And another data point to be drawn from that, and this will be more from the conference calls and other commentary from management, is just whether or not there's concern about tariffs and whether or not that's going to interrupt

And another data point to be drawn from that, and this will be more from the conference calls and other commentary from management, is just whether or not there's concern about tariffs and whether or not that's going to interrupt

And another data point to be drawn from that, and this will be more from the conference calls and other commentary from management, is just whether or not there's concern about tariffs and whether or not that's going to interrupt

I haven't seen any. The earnings reports that are coming out are obviously a little backward looking. You're looking at least like six weeks backwards as the company sort of put together their earnings reports when the quarters end. But there are some commentaries coming out. For instance, Budweiser just released its earnings. It's up about 11% in the past week.

I haven't seen any. The earnings reports that are coming out are obviously a little backward looking. You're looking at least like six weeks backwards as the company sort of put together their earnings reports when the quarters end. But there are some commentaries coming out. For instance, Budweiser just released its earnings. It's up about 11% in the past week.

I haven't seen any. The earnings reports that are coming out are obviously a little backward looking. You're looking at least like six weeks backwards as the company sort of put together their earnings reports when the quarters end. But there are some commentaries coming out. For instance, Budweiser just released its earnings. It's up about 11% in the past week.

It jumped 7% on its earnings report. It said that it sees only limited impact from tariffs. So that's a global company saying that it probably won't see a big hit from tariffs. In the sales in general, revenue was up 3%, but volumes were down 2%.

It jumped 7% on its earnings report. It said that it sees only limited impact from tariffs. So that's a global company saying that it probably won't see a big hit from tariffs. In the sales in general, revenue was up 3%, but volumes were down 2%.